I I p to Find a !9 "9V 0 0 n Performer Biopic

By Jesse Schlofterbeck

fic Lage in Heyond the Sea. Photo court tofest.

82 Narrative Music in the Pop Performer Biopic 831

Abstract: Since 2004, there has been commonly deployed narratively as the as well as a literal shoe-shining stand a remarkable resurgence of the musi- instantaneous expression of a charac- at the penny arcade. In the first scene, cal biopic genre. This analysis focuses ter's desires) than to previous examples Tony is baffled by his waning popu- on transitions between narratives and of this smaller genre. larity; by the second number, he has numbers in three contemporary musi- For most contemporary spectators, it regained his determination, using the cal biopics-Ray (2004), Walk the Line is a well-known convention of the clas- penny arcade as a dynamic forum for an (2005), and Beyond the Sea (2004)-and sical Hollywood musical that characters Astaire performance. In this way, both contends that these films have deeper suddenly break into song. As opposed "By Myself' and "Shoes" work narra- structural affinities with the musical to the musical biopic, where singing is tively. They are not excerptable routines than earlier pop performer biopics. limited to professional, onstage perfor- that stand apart from the story; rather, mances, characters in musicals transi- they dramatize Tony's subjective, two- Keywords: biopic, continuity, film tion to song within a single scene, part recognition of and adjustment to music, musical narrative, musicals, accompanied by non-diegetic music. unfamiliar developments in entertain- popular music, realism Consider the following examples from ment: first, his loneliness and bemuse- two classical Hollywood musicals of ment at his unpopularity; and second, Year the end of Beyond the Sea the 1950s. his attempt to find a place in the new SV (2004), Bobby Darin (Kevin In The Band Wagon (1953), Fred entertainment context. Rather than pull- Spacey), fatigued and in ill Astaire's washed-up Tony HunterSF ing the audience out of the narrative, health, prepares for his final live perfor- exchanges pleasantries in a train station the performances align viewers more mance. Although Darin's manager (Bob with the now-more-famous Ava Gard- closely with the central character by Hoskins) cautions him against singing ner, playing herself, who is mobbed by dynamically expressing his thoughts. out of obligation-he has his sanity and press photographers. She says to Tony, In Gigi (1958), singing performanc- health to consider--the singer persists. "Honestly, isn't all this stuff a bore?" es are again situated as instantaneous Minutes before Darin goes on stage, Non-diegetic orchestral music plays expressions of subjectivity consistent the manager asks him, matter-of-factly, faintly in the background as Gardner with characters' thoughts and feel- if he is prepared to sing. Darin wearily leaves and a porter remarks, "Those ings. Honor6 (Maurice Chevalier) sings replies that he is simply "trying to find poor movie stars, people just won't let the carefree '"Thank Heaven for Little a heartbeat." them alone, will they?" Tony replies sar- Girls" while strolling through the park The song he proceeds to perform, castically, "No, I don't know how they in an exuberant mood, appreciative of "The Curtain Falls," connects to mul- stand it." Tony segues to a performance, life's pleasures. Honor6 and Gaston tiple narrative interests of the film. snapping and strutting as he sings, "I'll (Louis Jourdan) exchange phrases in The lyrics reflect Darin's love of sing- go my way by myself, all alone in a the duet "It's a Bore," singing lines that ing ("Nothin' else would I trade for crowd." Typical of classical Hollywood reflect opposing worldviews: Gaston this"); the film's attempt to create a musicals, the transition from dramatic is exhausted, while Honor6 is excited. personal, psychological portrait ("Off to musical sequence is effected within Similarly, in "I Remember It Well," comes the makeup / Off comes the a single shot, within the same dramatic Honor6 and Mme. Alvarez (Hermione clown's disguise"); and, finally, the fact space, and with non-diegetic musical Gingold) offset each other's remem- that Darin's career is over and he is accompaniment. The lyrical content of brances: Honor6's are fuzzy, while dying ("The curtain's fallin' / The music the numbers matches the narrative situ- Alvarez's are sharp. As in The Band softly dies"). In the second verse, the ation. When Tony sings "By Myself" Wagon, Gigi's transitions from speak- film responds to the lyrical content of he literally is "by [himself], alone [... ] ing to singing are often effected uncut the song, as Darin's final performance finding [his] way, alone," wondering within the same space and accompanied is intercut with shots of him confined what to make of his new anonymity. by non-diegetic music. Although this to a hospital bed in his final decline. The following number, "When There's tendency did not seem strange to spec- This sequence neatly summarizes a a Shine on Your Shoes," works similarly tators in the classical era, the transitions trend in recent American films based on in terms of style and narrative develop- between dramatic and singing sequenc- the lives of popular musicians. While ment as Tony reacquaints himself with es appear abrupt and awkward to con- musical biopics traditionally separate the new Broadway. At first startled that temporary film spectators. Discussing lyrical content from the performer's a former theater has become a penny "the new movie musical" in 1980, J. P. state of mind, more recent films in arcade, Tony peruses the new amuse- Telotte wrote, "In these films, it is no this genre present songs as immedi- ments and takes this transformation in longer proper for a person to suddenly ate expressions of the lead character's stride, appropriating this location as burst into song. [... ] Whenever anyone emotions. In this way, the structure of another stage for song and dance. This does engage in such activities, it is usu- new musical biopics is more closely number marks the point when the "old" ally within a finitely restricted arena" related to the musical (where music is Tony recognizes that he can coexist in (2). Recent films marketed as musicals, the world of new amusements, as "shoe such as Chicago (2002), Hedwig and Copyright 0 2008 Heldref Publications shining" alludes to Astaire's dancing the Angry Inch (2001), and Moulin 84 JPF&T-Journal of Popular Film and Television

Rouge (2001), mostly limit singing and performs in increasingly large concerts. private struggles" (15-16). Motivations dancing to rehearsal areas or stages Holly goes from performing in private such as economic incentive (Why Do (and fantasy sequences sprung from garages and public roller rinks in rural Fools Fall in Love [1998]) or addiction them), rather than allowing those per- Texas to national television specials to the stage (The Jolson Story [1946]) formances into the diegetic spaces of and the Apollo Theater. Though the dictate the performers' lives, with the everyday life, which were frequently film features twelve of Holly's songs, singers having limited control over their used for such displays in classical Hol- they are treated as interpretations of a performances. The arbitrary nature of lywood musicals. popular form, not expressions of his what they sing and when they perform The most important aspect of the typ- immediate feelings. While Judith Bloch is reflected by the equally loose place- ical relationship between the dramatic specifically criticizes The Buddy Holly ment of songs in these films. In films and musical sequences in the classical Story for "writing out" other musical such as The Buddy Holly Story, the Hollywood musical is the fact that it influences-"The implication is rather drama does not incorporate the songs allows singing to function as instan- that Holly's 'jungle music' sprang from but focuses, instead, on the frenetic life- taneous expression. Timothy Scheu- the mind of a lone genius in a small style of the popular performer. rer describes the relationship: "[T]he Texas town somehow cut off from com- This tension is dramatized in a scene inner reality of feelings, emotions, and munication with the rest of the country" from Selena (1997), the eponymous instincts are given metaphoric and sym- (45-46)-the film also ignores any per- biopic of the late Tejano pop star. Sele- bolic expression through the means sonal ones. The emphasis is always on na's tour bus has broken down, and of music and dance" (308). In this "the sound," as the managers and pro- members of her band try to flag down way, musical numbers indicate deeper ducers seeking product differentiation in passing cars for assistance. Selena (Jen- emotional territory than the dramatic this and other musical biopics so often nifer Lopez), of course, has better luck sequences. When characters really feel put it, rather than the feeling behind than her bandmates. A couple of young something, they sing it immediately. it. We track Holly from gig to gig and men screech to a stop, wondering if In West Side Story (1961), Tony sings studio to studio, and see him fall in it really is "Selenas" (sic). Although "Maria" the moment he realizes he is love and leave his hometown for the big they ruin their car attempting to tow in love, just as The Band Wagon's Tony city, but his music is never presented her tour bus, they declare "Anything sings "By Myself' the instant he con- as autobiographical. Judging from the for Selenas! [ ... ] This bumper's goin' siders his aloneness. Thomas Elsaesser film, Holly's talent is songwriting, not on my garage with a sign that says: this takes a similar view of numbers as self-expression. Holly's brand of rock bumper was pulled off by the bus of moments of recognition and release: "It and roll is powerful precisely because Selenas." Selena is uncomfortable with is precisely when [... ] emotional inten- it is communal, relatable to millions of such star-struck treatment, but the rest sity becomes too strong to bear that [the young fans, not because it is personal, of her band finds it hilarious. They tease performers have] to dance and sing in individualized expression.' her with the boys' mispronunciation of order to give free play to the emotions Like the backstage musical, musical her name. This scene summarizes the that possess them" (16). biopics such as The Buddy Holly Story film's central dramatic interest. Here, In contrast to the musical's close derive dramatic tension between the as in many other musical biopics, the alignment between emotions and num- lead characters' onstage performances star must come to terms with her dual bers, the musical biopic has tradition- and their private lives.2 In The Buddy identity as a private person and a public ally emphasized the ups and downs of Holly Story, the difficult choices that performer. the star's career, punctuating this story the singer must make are a result of In the traditional pop performer bio- with the performer's songbook without his musical career. As he is compelled pic, music functions dramatically because closely integrating the songs into the to go on tour and move from Texas to of what it deprives the central character narrative. Such films from the 1970s New York, he is forced to choose new of, not what it enables him or her to and '80s position music more as an friends, lovers, and associates. The eco- express. For example, in Coal Miner's artistic form and career choice than a nomic necessity for the singer to contin- Daughter (1980), the central conflict forum for personal expression. The per- ually perform produces a split identity between the singer/songwriter Loretta former's knack for a particular musical between the performer as individual and Lynn (Sissy Spacek) and her husband style leads to a career choice that forces the performer as public entertainer. The Doolittle (Tommy Lee Jones) intensifies him to adjust to a demanding lifestyle. narrative content of songs is incidental as the demands of Lynn's professional This life story, rather than the deploy- next to the material imperative that schedule lead her husband to become ment of songs to match and heighten the singer continue to perform them. increasingly jealous and unfaithful. Her narrative developments on screen, is The heartbeat of such films resides in music becomes an obligation and a strain the dominant point of interest of these this tension between the performer's on their relationship. The deferral of films. Steve Rash's The Buddy Holly attempt to sustain a professional and romance in Selena is another example of Story (1978) is one example of a typical private life. Cynthia Hanson notes that this tendency. In one significant shot, the musical biopic. Here, the star-musi- in these biopics, "the entertainer's pub- precociously successful singer boards cian (Gary Busey) rises to fame and lic success has been juxtaposed with her tour bus, glancing wistfully at a Narrative Music in the Pop Performer Biopic 85 happy, anonymous couple Story necking on a park bench. The 1"] isicalbiopics such as The BuddyHolly enormous personal cost of derive dramatic tension between work and fame is the major point of emphasis in these the lead characters' onstage pictures. Cynthia Rose writes and their that rock biopics consistently performances rely on "some mixture of private lives. three formats: the struggle, the price exacted and/or the tragic fate" (15). The content of the performers' music becomes a side ic world that W o point to the story of their struggles. With Holly inhabits does little music positioned as an obligation that to facilitate this relationship. Here, as Buddy speaks with his wife just before Using the per- - A o creates conflict, certain lyrics are sung to formance of Gigi's charac- this performance, he is blocked in a fulfill a contract, not because the title song as an example, Elsaesser the content at the time claustrophobic mise-en-sc6ne between ter identifies with describes the emotional satisfaction that backstage technicians and an ongoing of performance. numbers in the classical Hollywood Even when the content of the per- stage performance, forcing him to plug musical provide their leads: "[Director is treated as expressive an ear and strain to communicate above former's songs Vincente] Minnelli's typical protago- rather than compulsory, the difficult the din. Hanson notes that even with nists are all [... ] cunning day-dreamers, process of songwriting is emphasized. "True Love Ways," the song performed and the mise-en-sc6ne follows them, as In Coal Miner's Daughter,we see Lynn with the most subjective motivation in they go through life, confusing-for writing "You Ain't Woman Enough the film, an impersonal, exterior style good or ill-what is part of their imagi- (To Take My Man)" well after she is maintained, orienting the spectator nation and what is real, and trying to catches her husband cheating. "Honky more from the crowd's perspective than obliterate the difference between what Tonk Girl" is composed haltingly, with Holly's: "[Holly] perches on a stool, is freedom and what is necessity" (15). intentionally uncertain notes. Here, the bathed in red light, backed by an orches- The stars of La Bamba and The Buddy spontaneity of the classical musical is tra. As the camera circles the stool, the Holly Story, by contrast, are too bur- sacrificed in favor of a more faithful low angle of the shot places the viewer dened by their careers to realize their depiction of touring and songwriting at Holly's feet. This is as intimate as the desires this fully. The performances in as labor. performance gets. He stows the stool, while still professions of Whereas earlier musical biopics are the lights come up, and he launches these films, love, are imbued with an overwhelm- truer to the work involved in the pro- into several familiar, up-tempo tunes" of "the difference between duction of music than to the energy (21). The song "Donna" is used simi- ing sense is freedom and what is necessity" contained within it, recent films in this larly in La Bamba: Richie Valens what life on genre (e.g., Ray, Walk the Line, and is dating a girl of the same name. and the difficulty of sustaining a Beyond the Sea) are more invested Having fallen in love, he phones her the road and a romantic relationship. Valens, nascent rock stars in the structure of music from tradi- to play the tune written especially Holly and are more realists tional musicals. Music as a spontaneous for her. In both cases, these songs though they may be, emotional expression is drawn from are tied to the singer's nonmusical than daydream believers. As opposed to the musical, while the more realistic desires. Still, the processes of per- Minnelli's musicals, the scenography of deployment of singing and performance formance (Buddy) and songwriting these biopics emphasizes the isolation (on stages or in recording studios and (La Bamba) remain the stronger and confinement of their lead charac- always by professionals) is drawn from point of emphasis, restricting the ters, even at the single moment they the biopic. Previous films in the musical liberating quality of their music. wish to use music for personal, roman- biopic genre have worked like musi- Significantly, both dedications are tic expression. cals, but less fully and only in rare issued over the phone, as Buddy and While La Bamba and The Buddy moments. Richie are unable to be any more Holly Story each situate one song in LaBamba (1987) and The Buddy Holly present in their romantic relation- terms of the performer's desires, musi- Story (1978) each position just one song ships because of career obligations. cal biopics of the late 1990s began to as an expression of personal, romantic These dedications, as such, are auto- associate many of the songs used in feeling. Holly draws "True Love Ways" biographical, but not in the manner of the films more closely with the paral- from his wife's turn of phrase and later, the classical musical, in which songs lel story of the singer's emotional life. just after phoning her in Iowa from New figure more purposefully in relation Gregory Nava's Why Do Fools Fall in York, opens a live set with this song "for to the narrative, allowing characters to Love (1998), which chronicles the rise someone special." However, the dieget- realize what they want and attain it. and fall of the 1950s doo-wop singer I

86 JPF&T-Journal of Popular Film and Television

Frankie Lymon, deploys the narrative exception.5 The songs are significant Shortly after this couple is married, content of songs with greater frequency as demonstrations of Charles's talent another song matches Ray's emotional than The Buddy Holly Story or La but unconnected to any coexisting emo- state. Bea pushes Ray to the bed and Bamba. First, the title-Lymon's hit tions. Ray "[depicts] a world whose says, "You are gonna have one [fam- song-indicates the film's central story. prime expressive elements-song and ily], starting right now. What do you Why Do Fools Fall in Love focuses on dance-are clearly circumscribed" think?" Ray replies, "It's what I know." a royalty/estate court case where three (Telotte 2). Singing is done by profes- "Hallelujah, I Love Her So," echoing women claim to be Lymon's ex-wife sionals and only in particular social his spoken statement, starts to play and, thus, stand to profit from this $4 settings. Music continues to be placed faintly in the background: "That's how million song. The title also refers to throughout the film within the realist I know, yes I know, Hallelujah, I love the dominant theme of the film in that conventions of studio, onstage, or infor- her so." The transition from one space the women's conflict is not simply over mal performances. In the second act of to another is smoothly effected, with "Why Do Fools Fall in Love," but why the film, however, Charles's songs regu- diegetic music from a live performance they earlier fell helplessly in love with larly intersect with the narrative. in the following shot/scene beginning in the difficult, even abusive, entertainer. In a radical departure from the first the final seconds of the last shot in their Later, when Lymon leaves his girlfriend hour of the film, almost every song in private home, and Ray's repetition of Elizabeth (Vivica A. Fox) for new lover the remaining 100 minutes is placed the phrase "I know," spoken then sung, Zola (Halle Berry), the lead singer of next to a dramatic scene that matches from one scene to the next. the Platters, Zola appears to taunt Eliza- the content of a song performed live The next scene in which Charles's beth, as she watches her group perform a or in a recording studio. With one music appears continues to link his song with the lyrics "He is mine. Really exception ("Unchain 3 My Heart"), all personal story with his compositions: mine," on television. When the newlyweds Lymon, portrayed as begin to have seri- an incorrigible wom- ous problems, darker anizer, woos each songs are aligned with of his lovers during their arguments. Bea dynamic, onstage discovers Ray's drugs performances with and paraphernalia just apt lyrics. Shortly before he must leave after meeting Zola, for several months. Lymon performs She hysterically begs "Baby Baby": "Baby him to quit the drugs baby how I want you and/or allow her to [ . ]. I'm so glad accompany him on the you want me too." An road. He rebuffs both insert of Zola watch- Ray Charles (jamue roxx) at me piano in a scene trom Kay. requests and leaves ing raptly offstage Bea in tears. The film shows that she is beginning to share his the songs that follow are connected to moves rapidly forward. In the following flirtatious sentiments (which she first appropriate dramatic sequences.6 Most shot, a new singer, Mary Ann, is audi- rebuffed). In a similar manner, perform- often, Charles's music is associated tioning for his group. She is in the midst ing the first time for Elizabeth, he sings with one of three stages in a relation- of singing "Drown in My Own Tears," "Goody Goody": "So you met someone ship-initial attraction, consummation, which matches Ray's abandoned wife's who set you back on your heels [...] or dissolution-between Ray and a love state of mind seconds before: "I cried so goody goody for me." interest: Della Bea (Kerry Washington), much since you've been gone, I guess At the start of Ray, the 2004 biopic on Mary Ann (Aunjanue Ellis), or Margie I'll drown in my own tears." The fact the famous soul musician Ray Charles (Regina King). that the audition scene begins in the (Jamie Foxx), the relationship between An instance of this expressive match middle of the song emphasizes the con- music and narrative emphasizes artistry occurs when Ray suddenly bursts out tinuity between the previous scene and and industry. In the first hour of Ray, of bed with the need to play a song. A this one. An establishing shot to ease music is presented in a manner com- startled Bea listens as Ray plays "I Got the audience into the audition scene is pletely familiar to the pop performer a Woman" for his "woman way over unnecessary because of the thematic 4 biopic. Ray rises from a rural nobody town that's good to me." The spontane- connection between the previous scene to a towering musical figure, despite ous song expresses both the rapturous and the performed song. hardships and the attempts of others to and risqu6 dimensions of their relation- The film continues to use Charles's exploit him. As in La Bamba and The ship: this is his first, clearest expression songs to comment on his increasing- Buddy Holly Story, the song selection of love, and Ray can visit only when ly unhappy marriage. This tendency in Ray appears arbitrary with a single Bea's preacher-landlord is gone. is deployed more fluidly in the next Narrative Music in the Pop Performer Biopic 87 musical sequence, which contrasts means typical of the eras in which after Ray argues with his backup singer scenes between Ray and Mary Ann, Gigi and Ray were made (Corrigan and and lover, Margie. She is furious that he now his mistress, with Charles returning White 66).1 The subjective and objective has asked her to abort their child. Mar- home to see Bea and his newborn baby. are paired primarily via mise-en-sc6ne gie shouts, "From now on it's strictly As we arrive at the bedside of the mar- in the 1958 film, with Gaston breaking business between me and you!" and ried couple, "Mary Ann" begins to play. into song in a single charmed locale: the Ray abruptly continues their rehearsal In the next shot Ray sings, "Oh Mary richly layered Jardin du Luxembourg. of a new number. While Margie is still Ann, you sure look fine [. .] I could In the 2004 film, this double-sidedness in a dramatic mode, Ray shifts them to love you all the time'" as the sinewy is communicated by fast-paced editing, a musical one by playing the opening Mary Ann dances suggestively across which facilitates a rapid succession of notes to the song, encouraging Margie the stage. This live performance is cross- associated locales. to channel her emotions through the cut with domestic "loving father" scenes: In "Intensified Continuity: Visual music. The song accommodates their Ray bathes his child with Bea-back to Style in Contemporary American Film," divergent interests, as Ray, callously Mary Ann; Ray goes to the market with David Bordwell considers the impact devoted to the art of song, relishes Bea. His wife's conservative dress con- of post-classical style on film narra- the intensity that her anger brings to trasts with Mary Ann's glistening upper tives. In contrast to many contemporary the performance-"Yeah. That's it."- body and sexy dance. The spectator is scholars, he argues that new tenden- while Margie performs the song sin- aligned with Ray's perspective as the cies in American filmmaking do not cerely, really wishing to dismiss him: camera pans across the stage to follow represent a departure from classical "You just ain't no good [... ] Hit the Mary Ann in medium close-ups; Bea, by film style, but, in fact, reinforce and road Jack, and don't you come back contrast, simply moves with her husband intensify it. Bordwell writes that faster no more." within the frame in far less compelling editing has not "led to a 'post-classi- The sequence continues, flashing for- two-shots. cal' breakdown of spatial continuity," ward to a live performance of the same Ray's "Mary Ann" resembles the title but the redeployment of old rules at a song. The transition from one sequence number of Gigi, when Gaston recog- faster clip (17). While Bordwell con- to another is smoothly effected, as Ray's nizes his love for the lead character by cedes that contemporary films have first line "What'd you say?"--carries singing in the Jardin du Luxembourg. fewer establishing shots and long-take the song from one space to another. The In both cases, the musical sequence is two-shots, this lack is balanced by the live performance has it both ways, reg- treated as a revelation of an emotional intensification of other classical guide- istering as a realistic scene, while also dilemma: How do Gaston and Ray feel lines: "At the same time [... ] fast-cut preserving the spontaneous emotional- about their love affairs? In both cases, dialogue has reinforced premises of the ism of the musical. Margie continues the character uses a song to answer 180-degree staging system. When shots to stare down Ray, singing her angry, the question, and the given scene takes are so short, when establishing shots are spumed-lover lines directly to him in on the subjective point of view of the brief or postponed or nonexistent, the the manner of a musical. Cuts from lead character. At the same time, how- eyelines and angles in a dialogue must one shot to another work subjectively, ever, the locations that Gaston and Ray be even more unambiguous and the axis as eyeline matches from Margie's per- inhabit still maintain a degree of authen- of action must be strictly respected" spective. Ray and his band play the ticity as actual locations: public streets (17). The continued continuity style, song for an audience at the same time and gardens, in one case, and domestic ultimately, refers to the way that these that the film's audience understands spaces and nightclubs in the latter. Ray films are read by audiences. The sty- Margie to be singing the song to Ray in remains biographically consistent, mov- listics of contemporary Hollywood still an angry outburst of emotion. Although ing from banal activities with his wife to work, above all else, to support a coher- diegetically the audience understands onstage performances with his mistress. ent, linear narrative. New biopic song that the performance happens well after The scene from Gigi fulfills a secondary sequences are contiguous with action the rehearsal, the pairing of these scenes function as a picturesque tour of Paris, in the manner of a classical musical, allows for the spontaneity of the musi- visiting the Jardin du Luxembourg. In but different in how they stretch across cal to coexist with contemporary stan- this respect, Elsaesser misses half of multiple times and places at an increas- dards of realism. While Telotte argues the equation when he characterizes the ingly rapid pace. that the musical has suffered because mise-en-sc6ne of Gaston's "Gigi" per- Ray's use of "Hit the Road Jack" of the success of the "realistic trend," formance as "a wholly subjective land- demonstrates the way that new biopics new musical biopics resolve many of scape of imagination" (16). Gaston, in position music in the familiar way, as the problems he and others bemoan in fact, occupies an ambiguous cinematic "performances bound by the natural contemporary music-films (6). In con- space between the "wholly subjective" limitations which normally attend such trast to the critical consensus that the and an actual, identifiable place. This formal presentations," while intensi- musical biopic is a relatively "safe" dual interest in location as both a "mea- fied continuity editing allows the songs middlebrow genre that is rarely inno- sure of character" and an "external to function narratively, as in a musical vative or sophisticated, close analyses condition" is achieved through filmic (Telotte 3). This song is used shortly show how structurally invested these I

88 JPF&T-Journal of Popular Film and Television films are in older genre conventions, in favor of a more faithful depiction through the teardrops / You'll find me translating them to more contemporary of touring and songwriting as labor. at the home of the blues." The song standards of style.' Recent examples of this subgenre, how- June performs with him next, "Time's This analysis of Ray contradicts ever, have had it both ways, arrang- A-Wastin'," encourages the expecta- the common reading of post-1960s ing the numbers to work narratively tion of their coupledom: "[Johnny:] musicals as emptied of the romantic, and expressively (in the manner of a Now I've got arms / [June:] And expressive sentiment pervasive in clas- musical) without eliminating the more I've got arms / [Together:] Let's get sical Hollywood musicals. According typical narrative threads of the biopic: If together and use those arms." The nar- to Telotte, in films like The Buddy Holly the work involved in the production of rative function of these songs relies on Story, "the expressive is clearly demar- music is minimized, the difficulty of the the particularity of this arrangement. cated from the main narrative, even popular entertainer's lifestyle remains In the classical Hollywood musical, while realistically arising from it" (2). a dominant emphasis. The stories of characters sing love songs once they For Telotte, the new musical's adher- Ray, Walk the Line, and Beyond the recognize that they are in love. In ence to contemporary codes of realism Sea certainly continue to fulfill Rose's contrast, Johnny and June unwittingly has come at the expense of expressiv- summation of the rock biopic as based sing love songs that prophesy the nar- ity: "[W]henever anyone does [sing], on "some mixture of three formats: the rative. The use of love songs in this it is usually within a finitely restricted struggle, the price exacted and/or the way relies on a unique structure in arena, the physical limits of which tragic fate" (15). which the audience knows the biogra- eventually extend to this expressive- Walk the Line deploys music narra- phies of the two entertainers and the ness" (2). Ray, however, is able to fulfill tively, with music arranged primarily characters do not. contemporary expectations that song around Johnny Cash's love interests. Once Johnny and June become a cou- sequences be realistic without sacrific- The film could just as plausibly be ple, their songs function as expressions ing their expressive qualities. Though titled Johnny and June. Cash's music, of personal feeling, deployed in the Ray never allows amateurs to sing or as positioned by the film, marks off manner of a classical musical. "Jack- characters to suddenly burst into song stages in their troubled relationship. son" is performed twice, first marking without the pretext of an appropriate Contemporary standards of realism their pairing, and later when they agree social forum, it absorbs and makes use are preserved by presenting Johnny to marry. This piece works as their sig- of the musical structure in which songs and June as musical partners as well nature tune, demonstrating their mutual express a mental state. This hybridity as romantic partners; their singing recognition of love: "[Johnny:] You're does not come at the expense of the is done exclusively onstage. This my big mouth woman / [June:] And integrity of the biopic's real-world plau- arrangement allows Johnny and June you're my guitar pickin' man." Though sibility or the musical's spontaneity, but to sing to each other while also sing- the song begins with marriage-"We effectively and simultaneously sustains ing for an audience, got married in a fever, hotter than a pep- both modes. Because we know that these charac- per sprout"-ostensibly "Jackson" is In 1977, Richard Dyer wrote that ters are destined to become a couple about a troubled relationship. The man "[m]usicals represent an extraordinary before they do, Cash's songs acquire a and woman exchange verses of the song mix of these two modes-the historic- narrative function in terms of this antic- with the man vowing to go to Jackson to ity of the narrative and the lyricism of ipated dual-focus narrative. When he "mess around," and the woman reply- numbers. They have not often taken sings "Home of the Blues" just before ing, "Go play your hand [...] See if I advantage of it, but the point is that inviting June to join him onstage, the care." But after a six-chorus exchange, they could, and that this possibility is lyrics work presciently, indicating the it is clear that the song always latent in them." The recent cycle rocky love affair ahead: "Just around is more of musical biographies approaches this the corner there's heartaches / Down potential, but from the opposite direc- the street that losers use / tion. While Dyer emphasizes "historic- If you can ity" as a neglected area of attention in wade in the classical musical, which is too often inappropriately viewed as "pure theentertainment'" biopic,suhaoheBdyf "the in termsboislyricism W hat of numbers" is a less com- has been lost in monly satisfied expecta- the communal performances tion (189). Earlier musical of classical Hollywood m usicals has been Holly Story and Coal Min- gained in individual expressiveness in these er's Daughter, sacrifice the spontaneity of the musical recent bioDics. II. Narrative Music in the Pop Performer Biopic 89 an exuberant ritual than a seriously tasy sequence [... .] memories are like ful or unsuccessful, the film undeniably threatening discussion. moonbeams, we do what we want with tries to invest music with a "special, Like Ray and Walk the Line, the them." The incredulous child Bobby romantic, quasi-religious status" (Alt- Bobby Darin biopic, Beyond the Sea, Darin, who directs the elder Darin's man 270).10 frequently connects music to narrative attention to the "truth" of his childhood In answer to numerous contempo- developments between the lead singer (disease and poverty), serves as a proxy rary critics, who discuss the demise of and his wife, actress Sandra Dee (Kate for contemporary film spectators and the classical Hollywood musical and Bosworth); however, unlike these other their skepticism of unbelievable stories the emergence of the musical biopic films, Beyond the Sea sometimes dis- and musicals in general. As Telotte with regret, this recent cycle of bio- penses with performances that match notes, music in contemporary films pics demonstrates that expressivity and Darin's music to a particular scene, is no longer invested with the same spontaneity are not necessarily lost with simply layering his songs over appro- transformative potential: "[A]ny trans- the realist expectations that singing be priate scenes as non-diegetic music. formation which song and dance might done by professionals. Although, as "Charade," for instance, plays over a work on our existence, [musical biopic Altman asserts, contemporary musical dramatic argument, with Darin and films] suggest, is at best momentary, a films have largely dismissed "the sym- Dee furiously packing their suitcases: fleeting protest against a general loss biotic relationship [of the American "Oh what a hit we made / We came on of vitality afflicting modem society" musical tradition] which once tied the next to closing / Best on the bill / Lov- (Telotte 13).9 The remainder of Beyond musical's canned entertainment to the ers until [... ] Love left a masquerade." the Sea does focus on exhausting, trau- audience's potential for live, personal Although Darin is never seen singing matic truths: Darin loses his audiences, production," the musical's revivifica- this song, it is clear that the scene's has marital problems, and learns that a tion does not need to happen through authorial voice is his, with the music woman he believed to be his sister was, re-embracing notions of amateur per- (as in the performative scenes) reso- in fact, his mother. The film concludes formance and the community (363). nating at an expressive level. Where with the nostalgic, but nonetheless What has been lost in the communal "Charade" parallels the low point of depressing, "The Curtain Falls," mark- performances of classical Hollywood its associated scene, the song "Fabu- ing the end of his career and his death. musicals has been gained in individual lous Places," which also notes marital The older version of Darin, it seems, expressiveness in these recent biopics. I trouble, is used contrapuntally. Beyond has adopted the child Bobby Darin's The idiosyncratic talents of performers the Sea makes ironic use of a tune skepticism about the limited power of like Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, and written in earnest about the "so many music and imagination. Bobby Darin displace the communal, fabulous faraway places to see." While An image of Darin dying in a hospital universally accessible musical tune. the song is a straightforward celebra- bed, however, is followed by an image Although "the financial side of music tion of the world's attractions, its lyr- of his son opening a suitcase to find film production" is no longer romanticized ics ("Pleasant as home is, it isn't what reels reading "Beyond the Sea." Now in these films, this has not given way Rome is [... ] So why stay there [.. the child Bobby Darin returns to remind to a "malaise" (Altman 270).12 Even .J") take on a different meaning, as his adult self of his earlier claim, "that if these films confirm the assump- Darin's exuberant live performance memories are like moonbeams." The tion that popular performers sing for of the song is intercut with shots film transitions from the bittersweet a commercial audience, this does not that illustrate his own exhaustion and "Curtain" to its final number: "As Long diminish the power of their music his wife's boredom and developing as I'm Singin'," a more optimistic, to communicate on a more personal alcoholism. comforting duet between the child and level. Altman once noted how music Beyond the Sea also displays con- adult versions of Darin ("Long as I'm and dance function as a signifier of siderable self-consciousness about its singin' / Then the world's all right / And "personal and communal joy" in the status as a musical. Structured loosely everything's swingin' / Long as I'm classical Hollywood musical; the new around the concept of Darin starring singin' my song"). The implication, of musical biopic shifts the scales (109). in a movie about himself, the film course, is that although Darin is mortal, Recent pop performer biopics place repeatedly questions the believability his music will continue to inspire those less emphasis on music as a communal of its story. When Darin first flashes after him. It is significant also that form, but these films also allow for back to his childhood, moving into a Darin's son is introduced at the very more individual musicalities to exist 13 song-and-dance number through his end of the film as a completely unde- on screen. neighborhood, the child Bobby Darin veloped character, standing in for his (sometimes positioned as the actor in future audience. Music, it seems, has NOTES the film within the film, other times redeemed Darin's life-and the lives 1. The Patsy Cline biopic, Sweet Dreams as Darin's image of himself as a boy) of future singers and listeners-after (1985), works similarly, with the lyrics of her music only occasionally associated with interrupts the scene to say, "You didn't all. Regardless of whether individual the content of her life. Her version of "Your go dancing down the street like that." viewers read Beyond the Sea's attempt Cheatin' Heart" plays as she embraces her Darin replies, "I know, it was a fan- to pitch music in these terms as success- second husband-formerly her partner in 90 JPF&T-Journal of Popular Film and Television an affair. At other times, eyeline matches the lives of popular musicians constitute can Film." Film Quarterly 55.3 (Spring follow her first husband Charlie's point of a durable genre in Hollywood, and also a 2002): 16-28. view as he watches her perform. A case fairly safe one" (B11). The Buddy Holly Story. Dir. Steve Rash. could be made that certain lines express 9. See also Altman 270. Columbia, 1978. his sentiment, but these matches happen so 10. This phrase is appropriated from Rick Coal Miner's Daughter.Dir. Michael Apted. infrequently and are accompanied by such Altman, who argues, in contrast, that not Universal, 1980. generalized lyrical content-"If loving you just the film musical, but popular music in Corrigan, Timothy, and Patricia White. means I'm weak, then I'm weak"-that they general since the 1960s, has indubitably The Film Experience. London: Bedford, appear merely incidental. lost any "special, romantic, quasi-religious 2004. 2. In Applause (1929), for instance, we status" (270). Dyer, Richard. "Entertainment and Utopia." understand that the exhilaration of the crowd 11. Susan Smith provides a concise analy- Genre: The Musical. Ed. Rick Altman. is not felt by the performers. A crucial dif- sis of the differences between rock biopics London: BFI, 1981. 175-89. ference between the musical biopic and and the musical. Using What's Love Got Elsaesser, Thomas. "Vincente Minnelli." backstage musical, however, is that the to Do with It (1993) and Cabin in the Sky Genre: The Musical. Ed. Rick Altman. backstage film involves a community of (1943) as typical examples, she demon- London: BFI, 1981. 8-27. performers, while the biopic centers on the strates how biopics emphasize the isolation Gigi. Dir. Vincente Minnelli. MGM, 1958. singularity of the star's problems. Rick Alt- of one or two performers, while musicals Hanson, Cynthia A. "The Hollywood Musi- man devotes a subchapter to the backstage highlight communities. In both cases, of cal Biopic and the Regressive Performer." variety of musicals in The American Film course, music is the catalyst that isolates the Wide Angle 10.2 (1988): 15-23. Musical (210-34). star-singer or brings together the community The Jolson Story. Dir. Alfred E. Green. 3. A radio works similarly in Walk the (108-09). Columbia, 1946. Line. The frustrations of Cash's first wife, 12. Altman's full sentence reads, "Once, Maslin, Janet. "Film: 'La Bamba,' a Musi- a nonsinger, are carried by radio songs. "I it was the work of romance to disguise the cal Biography." New York Times 24 July Miss You Already (and You're Not Even financial side of music production; now that 1987: C4. Gone)" plays before Cash goes on tour music's status as a business venture has been Ray. Dir. Taylor Hackford. Universal, 2004. again. "Time Is Slipping Away" matches the unveiled, no traditional image can contain Rose, Cynthia. "The Riddle of the Rock stagnancy of their relationship. the malaise associated with such a sobering Biopic." Sight & Sound 3.10 (Oct. 1993): 4. Strictly speaking, the shift from non- revelation" (Altman 270). 14-17. narrative to narrativized music happens 54 13. The Internet Movie Database (IMDB. Scheurer, Timothy E. "The Aesthetics of minutes into Ray. The film's total length com) reports that Ray, with a budget of $40 Form and Convention in the Movie Musi- is 152 minutes. The songs used in the million, grossed $73.5 million, and Walk cal." Journal of Popular Film 3.4 (Fall first 54 minutes of the film are: "What'd I the Line, budgeted at $28 million, grossed 1974): 307-24. Say," "Country Instrumental," "Route 66," $119.5 million. The profitability of these Scott, A. 0. Rev. of Walk the Line, dir. James "Straighten Up," "Everyday I Have the films goes a long way toward explaining Mangold. New York Times 18 Nov. 2005: Blues," "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand," the recent surge in the production of musi- B1+. "Midnight Hour," and "Mess Around." cal biopics. In 2007, I'm Not There (Bob Selena. Dir. Gregory Nava. Warner Bros., 5. "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand," Dylan), El Cantante (Hector Lavoe), La Vie 1997. which plays over a montage of Ray meeting en Rose (Edith Piaf), and Control (the band Smith, Susan. The Musical: Race, Gender, various women, is the lone exception (Ray). Joy Division) were released. Biopics about and Performance. London: BFI, 2005. 6. The songs that are used in the second James Brown, Charley Pride, Keith Moon, Sweet Dreams. Dir. Jerome Robbins and portion of the film are: "I Got a Woman"; Iggy Pop, Janis Joplin, and the Notorious Robert Wise. United Artists, 1961. "Hallelujah, I Love Her So"; "Drown in My B.I.G. are all currently in production or pre- Telotte, J. P. "A Sober Celebration: Song Own Tears"; "Mary Ann"; "If You Don't production. and Dance in the 'New' Musical." Journal Want to You Don't Have to (Get in Trou- of Popular Film 8.1 (Spring 1980): 2-14. ble)"; "What Kind of Man Are You"; "Night WORKS CITED Walk the Line. Dir. James Mangold. Twenti- and Day"; "I Believe to My Soul"; "Georgia Altman, Rick. The American Film Musical. eth Century Fox, 2005. on my Mind"; "Hit the Road Jack"; "You Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1989. Why Do Fools Fall in Love. Dir. Gregory Don't Know Me"; "I Can't Stop Loving Applause. Dir. Rouben Mamoulian. Para- Nava. Warner Bros., 1998. You"; and "Hard Times." mount, 1929. 7. These are Timothy Corrigan and Patri- La Bamba. Dir. Luis Valdez. Columbia, cia White's terms for opposing tendencies in 1987. Jesse Schlotterbeck is a graduate student scenographic design. The Band Wagon. Dir. Vincente Minnelli. and instructor in the Cinema & Comparative 8. Janet Maslin writes about La Bamba, MGM, 1953. Literature Department at the University of "Films like these [... ] are better admired for Beyond the Sea. Dir. Kevin Spacey. Lions Iowa. He has been published in Scope: An their innocence and simplicity than faulted Gate, 2004. Online Journalof Film and Television Studies for their lack of sophistication" (C4). In a Bloch, Judith. "Review: The Buddy Holly and the Encyclopedia of Documentary Film review of Walk the Line, A. 0. Scott writes Story." Film Quarterly 32.1 (Autumn (Roudledge, 2005). Currently, he is research- about the musical biopic as a middlebrow 1978): 42-46. ing a dissertation on American musical bio- genre that has produced few great films but Bordwell, David. "Intensified Continuity: pics from the 1960s to the present. also few abysmal ones: "Movies based on Visual Style in Contemporary Ameri- COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

TITLE: “Trying to Find a Heartbeat”: Narrative Music in the Pop Performer Biopic SOURCE: J Pop Film Telev 36 no2 Summ 2008

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